Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Knight, right, and center Andre Drummond, left, sit on the bench during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets in Auburn Hills, Mich., Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. Brooklyn won 93-90. / Paul Sancya/AP

Written by

Patrick Hayes

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Patrick Hayes writes for the Detroit Pistons blog PistonPowered. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. PistonPowered writers will contribute a column every Friday here. Contact Patrick anytime at patrickhayes13@gmail.com or on Twitter @patrick_hayes.

Despite being headed to the NBA Draft Lottery for the fourth straight season, the Pistons as an organization have not embraced the not-so-subtle late-season tanking strategies that several other perennial bottom feeders seem to employ after the All-Star break each season.

Instead, the team has a some would say annoying habit of picking up wins near the end of the regular season that only serve to reduce their odds of moving up in the lottery. In 2009-10, the team seemed to be on the right track with a late-season 11-game losing streak, only to win four of the final six games of that season. In 2010-11, the Pistons won four of their final five games. Last season, the team closed the season 21-21 after looking like arguably the leagueís worst team during a 4-20 start.

Now, in two of those three seasons, the Pistons didnít need lottery luck. Thanks to questionable decisions by teams picking in front of them, the Pistons came away with Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond, two players who would be top two picks in their respective drafts if teams got a redo. The third lottery pick, Brandon Knight, isnít necessarily a bad pick, but several players drafted behind him -- Kawhi Leonard, Kenneth Faried, Nikola Vucevic and Kemba Walker to name a few -- would undoubtedly go ahead of Knight with the benefit of hindsight.

Joe Dumars and the Pistons certainly deserve credit for making the right picks when it comes to Monroe and Drummond. After all, even if they were the obvious players to take, several other GMs were enchanted with the likes of Ekpe Udoh and Wes Johnson over Monroe. Itís a bit too early yet to determine just how badly teams picking in front of the Pistons whiffed by not taking Drummond, but heís obviously on his way to out-performing several of the players selected in front of him. But even if Dumars gets credit for making the right pick, he canít continue to rely on luck picking at the back end of the lottery, can he?

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A fourth year in the lottery and no top five pick to show for it isnít exactly an optimal result in a rebuilding period. Fortunately, this might be the season the Pistons crack that top 5, and they might not even have to tank to do it.

Last season, the Pistons were a good bet to improve. They started the season playing for a new coach who admitted that his system may have been too complex to implement in such a short period of time considering the limitations on training camp and preseason because of the lockout. The team also dealt with several key injuries early. As the season went on, players learned what they were running and players got healthy. Improvement was natural.

This season, the Pistons find themselves in the opposite position. They were relatively healthy much of the season, but now Drummond, their second best player, is out indefinitely. Knight returned impressively to the lineup on Wednesday, but the team was still significantly worse when he was out, so if he has to miss more time as he heals, that will certainly impact the Pistons. On top of that, the trade that sent out longtime starter Tayshaun Prince and netted Jose Calderon, while it was the right move for the long-term, has certainly caused the team to have to adjust quickly on the court, something that hasnít happened seamlessly.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are within striking distance of the Pistons. Despite Wednesdayís loss to Detroit, the Washington Wizards have played much better since the All-Star break. Both teams could easily surge past the Pistons in the standings. Phoenix, Sacramento, Minnesota and New Orleans are all only a few games worse than Detroit. The Pistons are likely not going to get worse than Orlando or Charlotte, who appear to be running away with the worst records in the league, but they are certainly a Ö well Ö contender, I guess Ö for one of the leagueís four or five worst records and their best chance in four tries at picking in the top of the lottery.

Now, no fan, myself included, wants to openly root for his or her team to lose. But if it happens to play out that way, well, no harm done. There isnít a particular player in this draft that fan bases are desperate for their team to get -- like Anthony Davis, last year for example. But the current playoff landscape should serve as an example of why a top 5 pick wonít hurt the Pistonsí cause at all. Of the 16 teams who would be in the playoffs today, only Indiana, Milwaukee, Denver and Golden State are doing so without significant contributions from a player who was picked in the top five in his draft.

Itís true, there are other ways to acquire those types of talents, and with their pending cap space in the offseason, the Pistons are certainly in position to look for that type of impact player in free agency or trades. But those moves are dependent on either teams being willing to trade talent or individuals being willing to sign with the Pistons. The organization canít control those things. They can control how careful they are with the injuries to Drummond and Knight and they can control how many minutes they give to their untested young end-of-the-bench players down the stretch of the season. Those two things wonít necessarily lead to more losses, but if they do, it gives the Pistons one more asset at their disposal to add an impact player to a roster that has shown it desperately needs a few more.